


You've Got Male

by KylaraIngress



Category: Sports Night
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Humor, M/M, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-03-09
Updated: 2003-03-09
Packaged: 2019-08-08 10:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KylaraIngress/pseuds/KylaraIngress
Summary: Dan gets a piece of fan mail.





	You've Got Male

**Author's Note:**

  * For [earlgreytea68](https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreytea68/gifts).



> Written originally in March 2001, I re-wrote it in 2003 where it lived on my website at the time. I wasn't going to post this, but EarlGreyTea68 posted her lovely "Shipped" and I figured what the hell? And while I don't add disclaimers anymore, I'm including the one I wrote with this one because -- as one sometimes did back in the day to show how silly it was to have to include disclaimers -- I wrote it in Sports Night style:
> 
> This disclaimer is in two parts: the first part being I don't own the characters of Sports Night, but rather Aaron Sorkin & Imagine Productions have that right; and the second part being if I did own the characters, I would dress them sexier – and they wouldn't have any problems with getting their pants, unless I wanted them to not have their pants, then it would be played for the slashiness.

Casey could feel the tension in the air as he walked into the office he shared with Dan. Maybe it was because it was ten minutes to air, and they were still waiting on one of the major games to end. Maybe it was that both Sally Sasser and Bobbi Bernstein were in the studio. Or maybe it had something to do with the opened envelope Dan had in his hand.

"Do you know what this is?" Dan asked without even looking at Casey, but just knowing that it was him entering the space.

"It looks like a letter," Casey said, walking over to his desk.

"It is," Dan said. "It is indeed a letter."

"So, you have a letter."

"It's not just a letter, my friend," Dan said. "This is a fan letter."

Casey hid the sigh he wanted to give. Was Dan ever going to get tired of rubbing in his popularity? "So, you got fan mail," he finally said, hoping to end the conversation here and now. "I get them too, you know. Part and parcel of being on TV."

"This is not just a fan letter, though, Case," Dan said. That's when Casey noticed his partner and friend was not looking directly at him.

"It's not?"

"No. This," he said, and gave the envelope another tap for emphasis, "this is a fan letter from a guy."

Casey wasn't sure where this was going. Usually, Dan was more likely to rub it in when he got letters from women, extolling his various virtues. "Considering a good 75% of our viewing audience is male, there's a good bet that you would get fan mail from one of them."

"He says I'm hot."

And so Casey realized why Dan was not looking at him directly. "Pardon?"

"The guy," Dan said, obviously uncomfortable.

"Who wrote the letter."

"The guy who wrote the letter," Dan agreed. "He says I'm hot."

A quick glance up showed Dan still not quite catching his eyes. "Hot as in, 'boy, Derek Jeter's game is hot tonight'?" he suggested.

"Hot as in, 'you're sexy; I think you're hot,'" Dan said.

"Excuse me?" Casey knew he shouldn't continue this conversation – who knew where it would lead? But he also knew now why Dan brought it up. Even though it was from a guy, in Danny's world, it was still a complimentary letter and deserved the rubbing of Casey's nose in it.

"He thinks I'm good looking."

"You're kidding!" Casey hit upon. It would be something Dan would do, after all – joke about a guy giving a love letter to one of them.

"Nope," Dan said, shaking his head. "I got a letter, a fan letter, from a guy, who thinks I'm hot."

"You sure it's a guy?"

"Aren't many females out there named Tom, is there?" Dan countered.

"Wow." Well, what else was Casey supposed to say? He started working on the copy sitting in front of him, because his brain hadn't told him what else he could say.

"Wow is a good response," Dan said, leaning back in his chair. "I mean, I know I'm good looking to the ladies – I've got plenty of fan mail from the female contingency to back that up."

Casey gave a sigh. Even now, Dan couldn't help but mention that.

"But I've never thought about whether I look good to the guys," he continued, ignoring the sigh. He took a deep breath. "I mean, do you think I'm good looking?"

And inside, Casey swore. He knew it was going to come to this. "Say that again?"

"You're a guy."

"Last time I checked."

"Do you think I'm good looking?"

"I don't think that's a good idea." Casey sidestepped the issue. He put his pen down, wondering if he could drag this conversation out long enough to where he wouldn't have to answer.

"It's not a good idea to ask you if you think I'm good looking?"

"It's not a good idea for me to tell you," Casey clarified.

"Why?"

"It could get weird."

"Weird how?"

"We're friends, right?"

"Last time I checked," Dan said.

"Well, think about it. If I said I didn't think you were good looking, you would sit around wondering why I didn't think you were good looking . . . and it would get weird. But, if I said I did think you were good looking, you would sit around wondering if I've always thought you were good looking . . . and it would get weird."

"So what you're saying . . . ."

"What I'm saying is that it would get weird." Casey sighed, hoping Dan would now drop it.

But this was Dan Rydell, and if there was one thing Dan did, it was not drop a subject. "It would get weird if you told me," he reiterated. Thankfully, Jeremy chose that time to enter into the office, grabbing some of Casey's copy. "Jeremy," Dan said, turning to the new victim, "do you think I'm good looking?"

There was a shuffle as the stack of papers dropped from Jeremy's hands. Taking his time picking them up, he finally spoke. "Do I want to know why you're asking me this?"

"I mean, Casey over here thinks it would get weird if he told me whether he thought I was good looking or not."

"Because you know I'm dating Natalie, right?" Jeremy asked. And speak of the devil, the woman in question walked into the room, looking for Dan's copy.

"Of course you are, silly," she said, grabbing what little was on Dan's desk. "Why would Dan not know we were dating?" She gave Jeremy a peck on the cheek and promptly walked out of the office.

"I'm not asking you as a prospective date, Jeremy," Dan said with a grin.

"Good," he said, "because I am dating Natalie."

"Darn' tootin' you are," Natalie's voice rang across the main floor.

"I mean," Jeremy continued, "you're not exactly my type."

"And what type are you?" Dan asked.

"Well, if I was to start dating guys . . . ."

"You're going to start dating guys?" Natalie asked as she walked back in on another errand.

"No," Jeremy quickly covered. "What I was saying was if I were, Dan wouldn't be my type."

"Of course not," she replied. "I'd see you more dating Isaac."

"Isaac?" Jeremy screeched.

"And who's my type?" Dan asked.

"You're more Casey's type," she said without even a break.

"What?" Casey cried.

"You see," Dan said with a satisfied smirk. "And he said it would get all weird if he told me if I was good looking or not," he explained to Natalie.

"This whole conversation is weird."

"You know, I think you're right," Jeremy said, whether in actual agreement or to deflect the conversation away from him, Casey wasn't sure. "Dan's definitely Casey's type."

"Excuse me," Casey said, standing, "but I want to know why suddenly everyone in this room is having this discussion. I didn't even want to answer the question!"

"What question?" Natalie asked.

"Whether he thinks I'm good looking or not."

"Of course you are, Dan," she said with a smile.

"You would say that, Nat," he said. "You're a woman."

"Last time I checked."

"I was asking Casey, as a guy, whether he'd think I was good looking or not."

Only a half second of observation was needed before she declared, "You two would look good as a couple."

"A couple of what?" Casey asked under his breath.

"You know," she answered, "a romantic couple. If you were both into guys, that is."

"Which I'm not," Casey said quickly – maybe a little too quickly.

"I don't know," Natalie said. "It's been a while since Lisa divorced you."

"I've been grieving!" he claimed.

"Ah, methinks he dost protest too much," Jeremy said.

"What about Sally? And Dana?" he countered.

"Sally is awfully tall," Dan said. "And you never did go out with Dana."

"Pixley?"

"I think she was a figment of your imagination," Dan countered.

"You see why I didn't want to answer the question?" Casey asked.

"I think you're good looking," Dan said.

"I think I'll take this," Jeremy said with a look toward both anchors and grabbing the rest of the copy, "and I'll just go back to my work."

"I think I'll join you, sweetie," Natalie said, apparently catching onto the same vibe in the office. And Casey was left alone, with the door closed, to deal with Dan's statement.

"You think I'm good looking?"

"Yeah," Dan said. "As a guy."

"Thanks," Casey snapped. "I'd hate to think you thought I was good looking for a girl."

"No," Dan said. "I meant from my perspective. As a guy, I can see you're good looking."

"You do?" Casey asked. He stared at Dan, vowing then and there that if this was all a joke, he would never speak to him again.

"Yeah, I do," Dan said. "Now, that didn't get too weird, did it?"

"I don't know," Casey said. "I think it's beginning to slip into weird."

"Five minutes to air," Dana's voice over the loudspeakers interrupted them.

"In fact," Dan said, taking a step closer, "I would have to say if I thought you would go for it, I would want to ask you out."

"Uh . . ." Casey lost the power of speech and fumbled, "if you were into guys."

Another step closer, and Casey wondered when it got so warm in their office. Dan was now in his personal space, and that – plus this very weird conversation – was making him very uncomfortable.

"I never said I wasn't," Dan said, looking into his partner's eyes.

"We . . . uh . . . ." Casey gulped as he felt Dan's breath on his cheek, and swore Dan could hear his heart beating a mile a minute. "We have a show to do."

"When you've answered my question," Dan answered, getting right up into Casey's face. He could see that, despite the shy way Dan had started this conversation, he was not shy now. And Casey found himself wondering – not for the first time – whether Dan was into guys or not.

"What question?" Casey asked, wincing at the squeak in his voice.

"If you think I'm good looking or not," Dan said. Casey swore – was that what this was all about? To see if he thought Dan was good looking or not? "I told you that you were, and it didn't get weird."

"You don't think this is weird?" Casey asked, pointing to the less than six inches between their bodies, and also wondered if Dan could see the bead of sweat on his forehead, hear the tight breathing he was doing, smell the rise in interest the immediacy gave him.

"Do you think I'm good looking?"

"Urgh . . . ." The rest of what he was going to say, though, was lost. Thankfully (or unthankfully), there was a banging at the door that brought Dan back a step, out of the danger zone.

Casey turned, and paled even further as he saw Dana, hands on her hips, foot tapping impatiently. As soon as both turned, she tapped her finger to her watch and said, "We need you in the studio – are you two done with whatever you are doing?"

Casey turned to Dan.

"We're not done," Dan said, with a small smile, "but we can put it on hold for now."

"Well, then, do you think you could possibly join us for our nightly show?" she asked.

Casey gave Dan a look and said, "Yes, yes I do."

**The End**


End file.
